Beaumont

July 7, 2008—Crude oil prices settled-in at a new record of $147 per barrel. The U.S. average price for regular gasoline climbs to an all-time high of $4.11 per gallon. Road trip style vacations are put on hold for many summer travelers

Beaumont

Kozy62

Ahmed Salam, 20, a law student, said: "The U.S. isn't listening to the people," he said, speaking from a tent in the middle of Tahrir Square."

Do Americans know what their President stands for?

"It's not only about elections," said Mohammed Farahat, 27, an advertising account manager. "Hitler was elected too. It bothers me that the U.S. presents itself as a peacemaker, but then they supports a fascist regime like Morsi's."

Asked whether he was worried that the United States might cut off $1.3 billion in annual aid to Egypt, Farahat said his country could do fine without it, a statement that seemed to ignore Egypt's deep economic troubles. A 2011 Gallup poll found that 70% of Egyptians were opposed to their country accepting further American assistance.

"I'm tired of being threatened with losing our aid," he said. "How many times can they play that card?"

Kozy62

"CAIRO — As rival camps of Egyptians protest for and against the toppling of President Mohamed Morsi, there is a rare point of agreement: America is to blame.

Anti-Americanism, which has long been an undercurrent here, is erupting again as Egyptians battle over the future of their country. Each side accuses the United States of backing the other and alleges conspiracies in which the Obama administration is secretly fostering dissent in an attempt to weaken Egypt.

It's a*******if you do,*******if you don't quagmire in which the U.S. appears to have alienated both sides, underscoring waning American influence and credibility as it attempts to navigate the turmoil."

No, Bob, what's sad is you don't seem to care. I'm posting facts and good questions and you make that post?

Beaumont

Kozy62

The Egyptian military knows–despite the attempt of the Brotherhood to sell the West on the myth that a fascist-style movement like their brand of Islamistm is democratic in nature–that the only way to prevent it from fomenting violence is to use the same tactics it wanted to employ against Morsi’s critics.

But by doing so in this manner, Obama has made it clear again to the Egyptian people that his sympathies are not with those who want a government that doesn’t wish to impose Islamism on the country or the minority that actually want democracy but with Morsi and the Brotherhood. Rather than repair the damage he has done in the last three years, the president sounds as if he is determined to double down on his mistakes.

Kozy62

You don’t have to read too closely between the lines to understand that Obama is angrier about regime change in Cairo than he ever was about the Islamist attempt to remake Egypt in their own image.

President Obama stood by passively for a year as Morsi and the Brotherhood began to seize total power, repress critics and pave the way for a complete transformation of Egypt into an Islamist state without threatening a cutoff of U.S. aid. Now Obama has finally found the guts to use America’s leverage over the country but only to register his protest against the downfall of the Brotherhood.

This will do nothing to help Morsi and the rest of his authoritarian crew that had already topped the excesses of the Mubarak regime in only a year...

Kozy62

(Reuters) - Brent crude oil prices were trading above $107 per barrel for the first time in three months on Friday, underpinned by political unrest in Egypt that continued to fuel concerns of oil supply disruptions in the Middle East.

U.S. crude oil prices maintained a 14-month high, as other commodity prices sank.

Kozy62

I know there will be those who just hit disagree, but are you really happy paying high gasoline prices or high electric bills or the the mess in Egypt? Are you really happy about the scandals? Are you happy with the unemployment and underemployment?

Kozy62

...Decreased dependency on foreign oil doesn't just impact American foreign policy; it also opens the door for the U.S. to no longer send hundreds of billions of dollars each year to countries not always friendly to the U.S. Representatives from OPEC member countries recently complained about the impact of the largely unexpected U.S. shale boom.

So, if we let free enterprise work and drill and mine and keep our administration from halting production, will prices go down? I would hope so!

Kozy62

These developments have considerable implications on U.S. foreign policy. If we continue developing our energy and manufacturing sectors, no longer will the U.S. have to kowtow to dictators of volatile nations for fear of disrupting our energy supply or rocking international markets. And we will feel far less compelled to intervene in foreign conflicts to stabilize world energy supplies. Indeed, the calculus for determining a threshold for intervention in another sovereign nation is changing in a promising way. The U.S. will always have a vested interest in a stable Middle East but the prospect -- and eventual realization -- of U.S. energy independence tips the scale and lessens the ability of rogue dictators to exercise their geopolitical control...

Kozy62

Kozy62

At the same time and in spite of our President's anti fossil fuel position, private companies on private are drill oil and gas.

How much longer will we hear empty claims from President Obama, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid that the United States has only 3% of the world's oil supplies and therefore, "we can't drill our way out of the problem"? The recent increase in domestic oil and gas production is sending shock waves through the global energy economy and is bolstering the USA's standing among the energy-producing giants in the Middle East. Not only are U.S.-Middle East relations changing in a geopolitical sense, but also economically, as trade balances reflect increasing U.S. energy production.

Kozy62

In a recent commentary on the European disillusionment with Obama, Financial Times foreign affairs analyst Gideon Rachman said, “It has gradually dawned on President Obama’s foreign fan club that their erstwhile hero is using methods that would be bitterly denounced if he were a white Republican."

In 2008 Obama was "the vessel into which liberals all over the world poured their fantasies," Rachman said. Disenchantment was bound to happen.

Kozy62

Reacting to report in the German magazine Der Spiegel that the NSA conducted surveillance of European diplomats, French President Francois Hollande said Monday, “We cannot accept this kind of behavior from partners and allies.” In an apparent signal of its displeasure, the French government moved Wednesday to suspend trade negotiations between the United States and the European Union for two weeks.

Without confirming or denying the Der Spiegel report, Obama said Monday intelligence gathering was simply a part of real world politics: “I guarantee you that in European capitals, there are people who are interested in, if not what I had for breakfast, at least what my talking points might be should I end up meeting with their leaders.”

In a recent commentary on the European disillusionment with Obama, Financial Times foreign affairs analyst Gideon Rachman said, “It has gradually dawned on President Obama’s foreign fan club that their erstwhile hero is using methods that would be bitt

Kozy62

A Gallup survey of public opinion in 130 countries published in March reached similar findings. It showed a decline in foreign views of U.S. leadership from 49% approval in 2007 to 41% last year. The sharpest falloff in the Gallup survey came in European countries, where 47% approved of U.S. leadership in 2007, but only 36% approved last year.

In Egypt which is heavily depended on U.S. foreign aid and military sales, 62% of Egyptians disapprove of the United States.

So, is the higher prices for gasoline and crude oil because of the unrest in Egypt or a dislike of our President?

Kozy62

"Even with President Barack Obama fresh off a (a very expensive and non beneficial)trip to Africa and headed in late summer for a trip to Russia, people outside the United States take a (much) less favorable view of America than they did right after he became president.

Surveys from different parts of the world show the initial goodwill toward the U.S. from the international community after Obama assumed office has waned (actually plummeted) and recent headlines point to some reasons why -- Revelations of U.S. international surveillance, the manhunt of information leaker Edward Snowden, drone strikes in foreign countries and the continued unrest in Syria have exposed the traditional fault lines of international relations.

Kozy62

...Obama said: "We are deeply concerned by the decision of the Egyptian armed forces to remove President Morsi of the muslim brotherhood, and suspend the Egyptian constitution. I now call on the Egyptian military to move quickly and responsibly to return full authority back to a democratically elected civilian government as soon as possible through an inclusive and transparent process, and to avoid any arbitrary arrests of President Morsi and his supporters."

Have the American people been brought into this mess because our President wants the muslim brotherhood in power? Should we call off all aid? What effect would that have?

Kozy62

Barack Obama said that he was troubled by Morsi's removal, and warned that US authorities were reviewing aid to Egyptian military – but he stopped short of calling the army's intervention a coup. He also condemned the arrest of Morsi and members of the Muslim Brotherhood.

The US president had invested much of his political capital in establishing Morsi's muslim but democratic credentials, while maintaining ties to the Egyptian military, which had been the main beneficiary of $1.3bn (£850m) in US aid.

However, Egyptian military leaders also hold leverage over the US, primarily by maintaining a peace treaty with Israel as well as keeping the Suez Canal open and patrolling the strategically sensitive Sinai Peninsula...

Kozy62

7/3/13...U.S. oil prices soared more than 2 percent to a 14-month high above $100 a barrel on Wednesday, following a decline in crude stockpiles and concerns that unrest in Egypt could disrupt oil supplies from the Middle East.

Crude futures rose as high as $102.18 in Asia trade, having tested the $100-mark in the New York session. By mid-day in Europe, Nymex crude was off its highs at $100.97, up 1.38 percent.

Oil prices have risen more than 5 percent so far this week. Worries about Egypt also boosted Brent crude futures, which rose more than $1 to just above $105 a barrel.

Kozy62

Kozy62

Well over 12 million Americans still can't find work, real wages have fallen for five years, three-fourths of Americans now live paycheck to check, & the economy continues to plod along four years into a quasi-mini-recovery. But there was the President in Georgetown, promising more energy taxes & mandates that will ensure fewer jobs, still lower incomes & slower growth & guaranteeing higher gasoline, heating and food prices.

Mr. Obama's "climate action plan" adds up to one of the most extensive & expensive reorganizations of the U.S. economy since the 1930s, imposed through administrative fiat & raw executive power. He wants to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 17% by 2020, but over his 6,500-word address he articulated no such goal for the unemployment rate or GDP.

What happened to the rule of law and the separation of powers under the Constitution?